I thought there would be one: Either Rex Peery or his son Hugh. Maybe next year.
No Wrestlers In Initial Pitt Hall of Fame Group
- Thread starter mike412
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Or his son Ed. Also Pat Santoro would have been a good choice? 3 time NCAA finalist and 2 time NCAA champ.
I think they all eventually get in. I picked Hugh over Ed because I believe he won more NCAA titles. My top choice would be Rex.
Rex, Hugh, and Ed all won 3 NCAA championships when freshman were not eligible to compete.
I had Rex for that gym class as well as my coach while at Pitt.
All excellent candidates that will get into the new HOF sooner rather than later. Other than football, basketball and track n field, did any other sport send a rep?
Yes, but Rex won his three at Oklahoma A&M, which now is Oklahoma State. I still think he should be the first to get in. He basically built the program up from scratch. He coached more NCAA champions than we have had in the 60-plus succeeding years. He coached us to our highest NCAA finish ever, 2nd. And, if freshmen had been eligible, I think we would have won the NCAAs that year.
But, you can’t go wrong with any of them. Hugh was totally dominant on the match. He was my first wrestling hero. Ed had an excellent coaching career at Navy after his graduation. When I was in law school in DC, I went to the Pitt v Navy matches at Annapolis and also to the old Eastern League tournaments at Navy and Princeton. Whenever he saw me in Pitt gear, he would say “Hail to Pitt !” Softer, of course, in Annapolis. He had no idea who I was, but after the tournament in Princeton he came up and briefly introduced himself.
